Cooling device for using salts with negative solution heat



March 22, 1960 P, scHLUMBoHM COOLING DEVICE FOR USING sALTs WITH NEGATIVE SOLUTION HEAT Filed Feb. 25, 1958 FIG. 4.

INVENTOR 2W/Q Pl. U5

SMA L CAN PLUS SMALL CAN OF SALT 0F WATER 0F .SALT

0F WATE SMALL CAN LARGE CAN POUR AWAY /sl' 15P/NE aina".

FIG. 1.

Unit@ Sttes Patent COOLING DEVICE FOR USING SALTS WITH NEGATIVE SOLUTION HEAT j Peter Schlumbohm, New York, N.Y.

Application February 25, 1958, Serial No. 717,439

3 Claims. (Cl. 62-4) The present invention refers to a device to cool objects by the refrigeration effect based on the nega'tlve. solution heat of certain salts. More specifically, the lnvention aims at improving a bottle cooler of that type which I have described in my U.S. Patents 1,700,813 and 2,053,844; and also aims at improving the method used for operating such a bottle cooler, as described 1n my U.S. Patent 2,154,473. Y' Y The invention is illustrated by way of example 1n Fig. 1 to Fig. 4 of the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a side view of the cooling devlce, shown partly in view and partly in vertical section.

Fig. 2 is a top view of Fig. l, with the lid removed.

Fig. 3 is an exploded view of the various elements of Fig. 1, shown in view and partly in vertical section.

Fig. 4 is a diagram illustrating the new method for the user. The temperatures cited are not critical, as they vary with the temperature of the warm bottle, of the water available and of the air.

The bottle cooler 1 shown in Fig. 1 comprises one outer container 2 with a lid 3 and two inner containers superposed within the outer container. In the example shown, the two containers are of diierent size, the larger one 4 has a lid S, and the smaller one 6 has a lid 7. Their combined height is corresponding to the inside depth of the outer container 2. The space between the outer diameter of the two inner containers and the inner diameter of the outer container 2 is filled by a strip of corrugated paper 8, the strip forming two layers. Ihus the two inner containers are iirmly packaged within the outer container 2. The two inner containers contain the dry salt, in this case nitrate of ammonia. Thus the salt is safely packaged for shipping.

As shown in Fig. 2, a rubber band 9 is placed on top of the lid 7 of the inner container 6.

As shown in Fig. 3, the rubber band 9 serves to hold the corrugated strip 8 which is identical with the strip 8 in Figs. l and 2, and which is now placed around the outer container 2 when using this container for cooling a bottle. The outer container 2 is preferably made from impregnated paper, impregnated to be safe against leakage when lled with brine. The two inner containers 4 and 6 are also preferably made from paper.

The container 2 constitutes the specifically dimensioned brine container as described in my U.S. Patent 1,700,813. It is dimensioned to hold the amount of brine required in the process, plus the bottle to be cooled. Inasmuch as one works in such a process with very small volumina of brine, the container has to have a relatively small diameter so that the bottle is suiiciently immersed in that small volume of brine. So far the equipment.

The device as shown in Fig. 1 is designed as a throwaway package. It also embodies the requirements of ICC shipping regulations, carrying'the dry nitrate of ammonia in a container within an outer container. The corrugated material cooperates with the containers as additional safety of packaging and its subsequent use as insulation around the outer container is of practical importance in this process in which every calorie is precious.`

In my Patent 2,154,473, I had described a method of applying the quantity of salt in two operations, using the first portion to producea pre-cooling bath and the second portion to produce a deep-'cooling bath. When". inventing that method, I considered equal portions. I am now improving the method by using two portions of different weight. I use a smaller portion for the precooling bath and a larger portion for the deep-cooling bath. The reason is that the pre-cooling bath has to' deal with cooling the bottle from a very high tempera-l` ture, say 909, to a still relatively high temperature, say' 55. Thus the specic heat of the pre-cooling bath-can be exploited up to that level of say 55 and the Veect' of the pre-cooling bath is based on producing a brine of say-20 F. by dissolving all the salt immediately and then warming up this brine which contains no undissolvcd' salt, to said end 4temperature of say 55 y Following my invention, the deep-coolingbath is bas'etil on a diierent characteristic. I am operating with a proportion of salt and water which renders a brine which is saturated at approximately 40 F. This means that all the salt will be dissolved only after the brine has been warmed up to 40 F. Before this point, there will always be salt undissolvcd. This undissolvcd salt will, during the period of the deep-cooling bath, constantly cool the brine by its negative solution heat. Thus a maximum temperature dilerence will be maintained between the bottle and the brine, which is enhancing the heat exchange. l

'Ihere is one additional important eiect, it always has been a weak point in such a process to advise a customer on timing the deep-cooling bath. Inasmuch as operating temperatures-meaning the temperature'of the water added to the salt, and the temperature of the warm bottle-vary, it is not possible to give a .direction based on minutes of the clock. Now this step of operating with a brine which is saturated at 40 ofers a timing possibility, independent of a clock. When operating the device and moving the bottle up and down in the brine, one can hear clearly that there is still salt which is undissolved. When this noise produced by the bottle moving against the salt ceases, one knows that the brine has a temperature of 40. Inasrnuch as the desirable temperature for a drink like beer is between 40-45, and inasmuch as the heat exchange between the brine and the bottle is asymptotic, this indicates that the bottle 1s at consumption temperature.

In such a process it is all-important to measure exactly the quantity of water to be applied for dissolving the measured amount of salt. Following my invention, the container 6, which holds the irst portion to be used, is dimcnsioned to be the measuring cup for the water. Following the invention, the quantity of water to be added to the rst portion of the salt is identical with the quantity of water to be added to the second portion, to produce the brine which is saturated at 40 F.

In a bottle cooler of my invention, which I manufacture, the container 6, which serves as measure for the water and which also holds the rst portion of the salt, has a volume of one pint and is lled with 13 ounces 28.35=368.55 gr.) of the salt. The second box contains 19 ounces (X28.35=538.65 gr.) of the salt. Apint (16X28.35=453.6 cc.) of water added to these 19 ounces of nitrate of ammonia renders a brine, which is saturated at 40 F. The brine has an end volume of appr. 770 ce. The brine end-volume of the irst portion of 13 ounces dissolved in a pint of water is appr. 665 ce. at its saturation temperature of 22 F. The cooler is dej ratnred Maa .-22,- :1960.

signed for coolinga quart of beer (can or bottle) and has an inside depth of 9 inches and a diameter of 4% inches. The two volumes of the brine reach in' this cooler a suiciently high level for immersing the can or the bottle suiciently to provide a goodpheat exchange surface of the wall which separates the brine and the beer.

For smaller bottles, the dimensions of the container and the boxes and the weights of the two salt portions would be reduced proportionately, while retaining the inventive steps described above. The inventive step of applying a 40 F. saturated brine for cooling bottled beverages is not limited to the 2-step cooling method of my Patent 2,154,473.

I claim as my invention:

1. The method of cooling abottled beverage by immersing the bottle and moving it in a brne'produced by adding a predetermined amount of water to a predetermined amount of salt which has a negative solution heat, the proportion of water to salt being such that? al1 of the salt will be dissolved only after the brine has been warmed up to approx. 40 F., whereby this temperature of the brine may be appraised by ear or eye when all of the salt has become dissolved.

2. In the method for cooling `an object by heat ex change-in two subsequent baths-with brine obtained by dissolving salt of negativi; solution heat, the rst bath being the precooling bath and the second bath being the deepcooling bath, the step of applying a precooling bath in which the proportion of Water to salt is such that all the salt will be dissolved only after the brine has warmed up to approx. 22 F.- and applying a deepcooling bath in which the proportion of Water to salt is such that all of the salt will be dissolved only after the brine has been warmed to approx. F.

3. In the method as claimed in claim 2, the step of applying the same quantity of water for producing the two different brines with two different quantities of the salt.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 300,133 Rossi June 10, 1884 898,355 Gokey Sept. 8, 1908 1,975,428 lohn Oct. 2, 1934 2,053,844 `Schlumbohm Sept. 8, 1936 2,154,473 Schlumbohm Apr. 18, 1939 2,185,799 Blake A Ian. 2, 1940 FOREIGN, PATENTS 412,142 Great Britain June 21, 1934 784,077 France July 22, 1935 

